This disclosure relates to fishing lures. More specifically, this disclosure relates to a bladed lure wherein a common swivel is replaced by one or more link members that enable more than one rotation revolution of a blade member while simultaneously preventing unlimited rotation of the blade member. As a result, when the lure is pulled forward at a generally constant speed, the automatically cycling torsional potential energy of the rotating link members produces alternating clockwise and counterclockwise rotations of the blade member. The cycling blade member rotation in turn helps create a rhythmic twitching motion of the lure.
The construction of a common “spinnerbait” spinner lure is well known. A weighted member and hook are both coupled to a generally V-shaped wire frame. One or more trailing blades are attached to one end the wire frame through a swivel. The swivel allows for unlimited blade rotation as the lure is retrieved, and the blade spins continuously in one rotational direction until lure motion is stopped. All spinnerbaits with hanging blades use swivels to attach such blades to the wire frame in order to allow the blades to freely spin continuously as the lure moves forward.
Simply attaching a thin trailing object to a lure frame without the use of a swivel has historically resulted in erratic and unpredictable behavior of the trailing object. U.S. Pat. No. 1,787,726 to Heddon, et al., describes a plurality of thin metal minnows non-rotatably linked to a wire frame of the lure. Because no swivels are used, the metal minnows sway and dart randomly as the lure moves through the water. As a result, no cyclical minnow rotation or corresponding twitching of the lure can occur. Such unpredictable movement is overcome by the lure described herein, which contains no swivels yet generates controlled and cyclically-alternating blade rotation coupled with a cyclical twitching motion of the lure.
For the sake of this invention, the term “rotating” is defined as a blade completing at least one complete clockwise spinning revolution or at least one complete counterclockwise spinning revolution (360 degrees or greater). The terms “oscillating,” “darting, “swaying,” “fluttering,” or an equivalent, define an incomplete revolution of rotation, as these terms are most often used to describe motion in other lures wherein swivels are not used to attach trailing metallic members that are dragged through the water as part of the lure. When describing a constant speed of forward lure motion, the term “constant” is defined as an angler turning a fishing reel at a generally steady rate of rotation in an attempt to cause the fishing line to pull the lure forward with a generally unchanging speed in water. Said differently, an angler is not deliberately twitching, jerking, or pausing the fishing line. “Constant” lure motion can also be defined as a lure that is being trolled behind a boat that is moving at a generally steady or unchanging speed.
Research has shown that fish are more responsive to irregular vibrations versus those that are more continuous in nature. A rotating blade on an existing spinner lure emits an unchanging vibration signature as the lure moves a constant speed. Because the blade of a common spinner lure rotates freely in an unlimited manner, a common spinner lure only can emit steady, continuous sounds under water. A spinner lure that could combine the ease of angler retrieval (lure moving at a steady speed) with cyclical blade rotation and rhythmic lure twitches (periodic vibrations and pulses, and not continuous ones) would possess significant advantages over traditional spinner lures. Such a lure would create both visual and auditory stimuli that closer mimic the random and erratic swimming behavior of real life prey. There exists the need for a new and improved type of spinner lure that can simultaneously exhibit rhythmically alternating blade rotations along with cyclical twitch movements when the lure is retrieved at a constant speed.